Meta

This corner building, now the site of The Pour House was the long-time location of Frank's Hotdogs, yet another of the many Columbia restaurants I was going to "get around to" and never did before it was too late.

From what I could gather in years of walking and driving past, the place was open late-nights and had a diner-like setup with a serving counter and tables around the walls. It appeared that the owner took a certain pride in the "basic" nature of his setup, and for many years, a window slogan proclaimed "No Reservations Required". Curiously, given how uncommon non-Sandy's hotdog places are, Frank's was just down the street from Lum's Hotdogs. I don't know if their years of operation overlapped at all though.

17 Responses to 'Frank's Hotdogs, 800 Harden Street: early 2000s'

Subscribe to comments with RSS
or TrackBack to 'Frank's Hotdogs, 800 Harden Street: early 2000s'.

Franks ran an outside hot dog stand across Harden St at the intersection of Greene. It was extremely popular in the 90's for anyone in 5 points. I used to think it was the best food ever, but when you're drunk at 2 am anything tastes good. I think they closed down the stand my last year at USC (1997). A sad moment for 5 points, 2nd only to Rockafellas shutting down.

After Frank's closed it became a rather shady place that was eventually closed down when it was busted for drug dealing. After that two friends of mine bought the place and turned it into Minglewood Bar and the Five Points Diner. The bar was a great place to see friends and sometimes catch a live band. The diner (a fantastic greasy spoon) was open all night and served the best hamburgers in town. After owning the place for several years, my friends decided they wanted to start keeping "normal" hours and maybe have some kids. So, they sold the place. I think this was sometime in 2005. Unfortunately the owners of what's now called The Pour House totally killed the atmoshphere of the bar. I have no idea if they serve food anymore.

Well, it was a documentary made for PBS. It's one of many by Rick Sebak, who made it for the affiliate WQED. I found his e-mail on their webpage: magsebak@wqed.org. Considering that he is a documentary film maker, and his specific style of film making, it's highly likely he'd give you the okay. Even if not, it's worth watching, and I wanted to at least let you know about it.

Ted (and readers), I was thinking about Frank Barco tonight and decided to look for some photos. I discovered that he had passed on August 16, 2012.

I used to eat at Frank's Hot Dogs while I was a USC student in the mid to late 70s and returned when I was visiting the area in the 80s. They had the best hot dogs in my opinion. Their claim to fame was the natural casing hot dog.

Here's the article I discovered. There are a couple of archived articles in the sidebar.

I remember Franks Hot Dogs from my school days at USE in the early 70s. The hot dogs were very different and very good. My friends and I would make a trip to Five Points--going to the Joyful Alternative for our hippie shopping and to Franks for a good hot dog

Hi all,
Frank's was just shown on a Georgia PBS tv show from 2008. I started dating a lady in 2008 who is from Cola-town, and I've spend many a days since in Columbia. I'd not heard of Frank's and looked forward to enjoying a dog there. I am sorry to hear of another landmark disappearing, it must have been soon after the show was filmed. My girlfriend's & her parents were raised in the Shandon neighborhoos, and I've grown to love the city & the 5 Points stores (go Oops!). I've felt the loss of Hiller's Hardware store... too too sad!!!, replaced by just another bank.
I love the family traditions. my girlfriend worked at Groucho's while at USC in the late 80's.
I only wish that I could have enjoyed Frank's!!

You can still find the hot or the mild at the Rosewood Publix. (and the mild at all the other Publix) This one is very close to an air-cured sausage I would get when heading to the outer banks at a Smith's Red & White in Dortches NC.